Nola's Chores

Nick and I have been beside ourselves with pride and exhaustion, as Nola clearly sees the crib as something that is "so last year." For the past two weeks, she's been "sleeping" in a bed, which means we (alright, I'll just admit it, it's Nick whose been carrying the load in this one, as anyone who's ever known me knows that I simply won't wake up for anything. Not even my own child. I'm awful, I know...) Anyhow, "we" have been waking up at 12, 2, 4, 6 and just about anytime in between that Nola deems necessary, as she has a whole new world opened up to her without the barrier of the four-sides of the crib. This, compounded by her new door-knob turning skills, has opened up a whole new nighttime world to her, and a whole new world of hurt for her parents.

Instead of taking a step backward, and averting the meltdown that returning to the crib would cause, we've decided to make a giant leap forward, and make this whole "bed thing" work for us.

Last night, before supper, we made a chart of "Nola's Chores," which pretty much just entailed sleeping in until 7 (the "Going on the potty" chore is thrown in just to make us look extra precocious). Note that there's an addendum that we had to tape to the bottom this morning... to the average layperson (read: those sane enough to not invite a toddler into their house) this little addendum may seem redundant, but sleeping through the night is not the same as sleeping until 7:00 (which is honestly just an arbitrary time that mommy selected, as it's only 3 hours earlier than mommy would prefer to wake up. Sadly, that's "so last year" for me too).

Nola slept in last night until 5:45, which is a vast improvement, and deserving a sticker. We have yet to determine what the stickers will earn our diligent little (almost) 2-year old, but her reward for today was to get to listen to mommy sing some Roberta Flack on the old karaoke machine. Oh, the things that are possible when you have a full night's sleep!

6-months old!

We just got back from our pediatrician's, and he confirmed our belief that Payton is just about the sweetest little thing in the world. Nonetheless, she still had to get her shots.

Strawberry Picking at the Farm

If weather permits, we make it out to the Underwood Farm at least once a week.

We've picked a few other things, but nothing compares to "shawberries!"

Payton wears her strawberry onesie in support of her big sister.

Love these photos! Thanks again, Nonnie.

Tummy Time

Payton rolled over for the first time last week, on June 6, to be exact... this is truly a notable milestone, as our poor little Payton gets pretty limited floor time, due to someone who shall remain nameless (but I'll give you a hint: She has really curly hair and her favorite phrase as of late is, "No!")

Elmo's Healthy Heroes

We've been busy, and hate to play blog catch-up, but wanted to document the utter coolness of Elmo. We saw him and his "Healthy Heroes" when they came through Thousand Oaks at the end of May, and have been using his "healthy tips" (i.e., "Eating your colors", "Taking your naps") as parenting bribery every since.

Just a pose to juxtapose

Nola, around 6 months old....

...and Payton, nearly 5 months.

I guess it's obvious that a big challenge for me at this stage of mommyhood is to look at each girl as thoroughly and wonderfully unique (with the exception of the maternally inherited chunky-thigh-gene.)

Their Nonnie took these pictures (yes, for anyone keeping track, she's been in California more than Louisiana since right before Payton showed up on the scene), and I asked her to retake some of the pictures I tried out earlier with the girls.

I swear that they wear clothes most of the time.

But they do look so cute without them!

Mom's Attempt at a Photo Shoot

Nonnie set up something that is roughly equivalent to a Sears Portrait Studio in our spare room, and (probably strategically) left one of her fancy cameras around as well. I decided today was the day to get behind the camera and see if I can capture the girls myself. Half of the pictures were blurry, while the other half had a lens cap dangling in front of them, but we did manage to catch a few that were worthy of sharing on the blog.

Honestly, I felt pressed to do it as soon as possible, as I just happen to have a pair of matching dresses in the right sizes.

Of course, the best moments were captured when we decided to forget about the dresses altogether!